On July 30, the Japanese army occupied Tianjin, and in just two days, the two largest cities in the north fell into the hands of the Japanese army, and the situation was urgent and could not be breathed. The atmosphere in the Nanjing Ministry of National Defense was tense, and Lao Jiang was silent as he looked at the huge military map. "President, at present, the Japanese army continues to assemble in Beiping, and according to intelligence analysis, it will go south in three ways." Minister of Military Affairs He Yingqin reported on the situation. "To start the Songhu Campaign as soon as possible, we must disrupt the strategic deployment of the Japanese army, and we must change the offensive route of the Japanese army from north to south......

"President, the General Staff is drawing up a battle plan, and at present, Chen Cheng's 19th Group Army has entered Jiangxi and assembled towards Songhu. This afternoon, the Japanese minister lodged a protest, saying that in the past two days, a large number of Japanese nationals have disappeared in Shanghai and Nanjing, and that he asked the Nationalist Government to give an explanation. "Tell the Japanese minister that this is not an act of the government and cannot be explained." "President, the unified action of Nanjing and Shanghai is obviously a planned target of Japanese expatriates, but where did these missing Japanese expatriates go, could they all be killed?"

"I have instructed the Central Command and the Military Commander to make every effort to find out who did it as soon as possible, and what is their purpose in abducting Japanese nationals? In particular, how the plan of action for the detention of Japanese nationals that we drew up was leaked. "It seems that this non-governmental organization is not simple, Shanghai and Nanjing are acting at the same time, and there are no clues. According to the report of the Japanese minister, more than 1,000 people have disappeared in Shanghai, and more than 300 Japanese nationals have disappeared in Nanjing, which is simply incredible. ”

As soon as He Yingqin's words fell, Dai Li, the head of the military command, hurriedly walked in to report: "Report president, I have just received a report from the mayor of Wuhan that all Japanese nationals in the Japanese Concession in Wuhan, including the consulate personnel, were suddenly evacuated on the night of the 28th and during the day on the 29th, and there is not a single Japanese expatriate in the Japanese Concession at present. The mayor of Wuhan asked for instructions, whether to accept the Japanese concession? ”

"The Japanese acted quickly, told the mayor of Wuhan, immediately took over the Japanese concession, and ordered all the places downstream to intercept the Japanese expatriate." "President, I inquired about various places downstream, and found no trace of the evacuation of Japanese expatriates. It is also reported that this morning, Liu Xiang attacked the Japanese in Chongqing. I suspect that the actions against Japanese expatriates in Shanghai and Nanjing were his doing! "If it's really Liu Xiang's doing, it's a remedy, so why not push the boat down the river." Tell Liu Xiang that Japanese nationals are not allowed to be killed, and centralized detention is sufficient. ”

"President, Liu Xiang's unauthorized detention of Japanese nationals is audacious. In recent years, he has been in contact with the Jiangxi Communist Party. With reliable information, Liu Xiang purchased a large number of German weapons through Ouyang Jian, and we have to guard against this person! Dai Li's words, Lao Jiang was silent. He Yingqin said: "President, order Liu Xiang to lead his troops out of Sichuan, so that he can test whether he is detached from Germany." "Don't rush it, now is not the time. Liu Xiang's enthusiasm for the War of Resistance could only be drummed up, but not vented. ”

Lao Jiang walked a few steps on the ground and said: "Telegraph Liu Xiang to reward him for his actions, to quickly determine the number of Japanese expatriates, and to use Japanese expatriates to force the Japanese army to stop attacking." We have to buy time, time is too precious for us. "The detention of Japanese nationals is a plan drawn up by the Ministry of National Defense, and since Liu Xiang is adding fuel to the fire, why not push the boat with the flow. Originally, the rapid fall of Beijing and Tianjin and such a passive situation made Lao Jiang depressed, and the detention of Japanese nationals was confirmed, which made him feel a little better. "Report, the defenders of Jiangyin Fortress have found Japanese troops!" An operational staff officer made an urgent report.

Everyone looked at the military map. "It must be that the Japanese army dispatched marines from Shanghai, and it seems that our plan to blockade the Jiangyin fortress has been exposed! The Japanese army took control of the Jiangyin fortress, and the Yangtze River Fleet of the Japanese Navy would retreat safely. "A bunch of rice buckets!" Lao Jiang roared at Dai Li, obviously angry at his counter-espionage report, Dai Li's expression was embarrassed, and he was too frightened to speak. "Immediately order the nearest troops to recapture the Jiangyin fortress." Lao Jiang knew in his heart that even if the Jiangyin fortress was recaptured, the Japanese Yangtze River Fleet would also escape.

The plan to detain the Japanese expatriates went very smoothly and successfully attracted attention to Liu Xiang. In the afternoon of that day, Ouyang Jiandian ordered Gao Guoying and Mu Shixiong to send the Japanese expatriates to Chongqing as soon as possible and hand them over to Liu Xiang. Ouyang Jian finished the phone call and came out of the secret room in the inner room, when his wife Mei Fang suddenly walked in. "You didn't send the child, why did you come back so soon!" Ouyang Jian asked. Now their son is more than a year old and is taken to the nursery during the day to be cared for by his aunt.

"My son was taken by a colleague, and I came back to get something! Strange, how are you at home? Mei Fang was a little puzzled. I'll go home and pick up something too! Since the launch of Plan A and Plan B, Ouyang Jian has set up a radio station in his secret room. At the beginning of the year, a military radio factory imported from the United States was put into operation, and at present, the entire units of the Eighth Route Army in Jiangxi Province and battalion-level units have been equipped with radio stations, thus greatly improving the battlefield command capability.

After learning the information that the Japanese army controlled the Jiangyin fortress, Ouyang Jian decided to change the B plan of action, asking Li Dabao to concentrate his forces, recapture the Jiangyin fortress, and then blockade the Jiangyin fortress, so that the Yangtze River Fleet of the Japanese Navy could not escape. Ouyang Jian's purpose in doing this was also for the sake of Lao Jiang's grand strategy. Now is the critical moment, and the Japanese must be dealt a head-on blow. Ouyang Jian estimated that the Japanese army sent troops to control the Jiangyin fortress in order to allow the Japanese Navy's Yangtze River Fleet to evacuate safely, so the number of troops dispatched would not be too many.

That afternoon, in a forest northwest of Jiangyin Fortress, Li Dabao looked up at the sun with an anxious expression. Originally, Plan B was implemented in the Jiangyin area, because this area was the best area, and most of the Japanese warships were active in this area. According to the plan, Li Dabao's Marine Corps was divided into 10 detachments to hunt different targets. Suddenly, after receiving an order from Ouyang Jian, the Jiangyin fortress was occupied by the Japanese army, and the B plan of action was changed, requiring that the fortress must be recaptured and blockaded to intercept the Yangtze River fleet of the Japanese Navy.

In a hurry, Li Dabao ordered the concentration of troops. At the moment, he was anxious, half of the men were not in place, and he was worried that something would happen on their way. Since it's daytime, unpredictable situations can easily occur. Before dusk, four detachments arrived without incident, but the other detachment was still nowhere to be seen. It was almost dark, Li Dabao decided not to wait, and this is when the detachment arrived. "Captain Zhang, what's going on? According to the allotted time, you arrived an hour late. The detachment leader was out of breath and gasped: "Captain, don't mention it!" ”

"What happened?" "Captain, we met a group of national troops on the road, with a strength of about a battalion, which was also advancing towards Jiangyin Fortress, and it is estimated that we were ordered to recapture Jiangyin Fortress. However, the troops of the national army slowly marched like a snail crawling again, and we had no choice but to detour, and we took more unjust roads, so we were late. "A battalion of national army units must be a ragtag army in the neighborhood. Counting on them to retake the fortress, the ghost believes. They have received orders and have to be dispatched, we don't care about them, we must recapture the Jiangyin fortress tonight. ”

Soon the troops set out in the darkness of night, 5 kilometers from the Jiangyin fortress, and the troops arrived in less than an hour. The Marines did not wear military uniforms, they wore the clothes of ordinary people. The Marine Corps is divided into 10 detachments of 30 people each. The detachment consisted of 5 snipers armed with sniper rifles, 10 armed with submachine guns, 5 armed with grenadiers and one bazooka, 3 light machine gun squads, and the remaining 7 armed with short guns. The armament of the Marine Corps, the firepower of the special operations team surpassed.

The night was hazy, Li Dabao came to the riverside, and several team leaders were already waiting. The lights on the pier were dim, and the Japanese troops were heavily guarded. "Captain, there is a medium transport ship and two gunboats moored on the dock. It can be judged that the Japanese army's sneak attack on Jiangyin Fortress came by transport ship, and two gunboats served as cover. According to the capacity of this transport ship, there will be no more than three squadrons of Japanese soldiers. "The team leader of this report is very professional, and he has worked hard in the past two years. Li Dabao observed carefully, and there was no squeak.

"Captain, it's a rare opportunity, two gunboats and one transport ship, hugging the grass and beating rabbits, just take down the Japanese warships first!" "No, our mission is to seize the fortress and block the Yangtze River Fleet of the Japanese Navy. The view of the pier is very open, and it is easy to spot the warship. The Japanese troops who captured the fortress were Japanese marines stationed in Shanghai, and their combat effectiveness was very strong, which was our real opponent. Brethren! Shangfeng ordered us to take the Jiangyin fortress, this is a brutal battle, everyone must be mentally prepared. ”

"Captain, you can give the order, we are not bastards." Several detachment leaders asked for help. "Our firepower was stronger than that of the Japanese, so I decided to attack from multiple points, with the 1st and 3rd detachments attacking on the western flank, the 4th and 5th detachments attacking on the eastern flank, and the 7th and 9th detachments attacking on the southern flank. The 10th detachment is in reserve, and it is now 9 o'clock in the evening, and at 10 o'clock the official attack ......"

Just as they were in the preparation stage, a battalion of national troops from behind also came up and stopped advancing about 3 kilometers away from the Jiangyin fortress. This army was indeed a ragtag army in Jiangsu, and was ordered to recapture the Jiangyin fortress. "Report! It is still 3 kilometers away from Jiangyin Fortress! "A subordinate in the dark." The troops were ordered to stop advancing and rest on the spot. "The battalion commander gave the order. The soldiers sat on the ground when they heard this.

"Battalion commander, regiment commander leads a large force, arrive at noon tomorrow, do we attack in advance!" A subordinate reported. "You've got water in your head, the condition is unknown, I'll talk about it after dawn. Command the brethren to keep their spirits up, and make a decision after dawn according to the situation! ”

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